Parkinson's gait - signs of symptoms and causes

Description

Parkinson's gait is characterized by the limited swinging of the arms, increased tremors in the upper limbs when walking, slowly rotating the body, dragging legs with narrow steps. Patients can start walking with quick, short, dragging steps before transitioning to the normal stage of walking (hesitant onset). When walking, it can be interrupted by short dragging steps or limited movement (freezing) if there is an obstacle.

Reason

Common

Parkinson disease.

Drugs - blocking Dopamine (eg. Haloperidol, metoclopramide).

Less common

Defect stroke, basal ganglia.

Background haemorrhage.

Multi-system atrophy (MSA).

Paralysis on the progressive nucleus.

Cortical and basal ganglia degeneration.

Mechanism

Changes in posture in Parkinson's syndrome (eg bent posture, bent shoulders) cause the patient's centre of gravity to move forward, poor balance during movement. At the beginning of the movement, the patient may have a series of fast and small festination steps to correct the imbalance caused by the folding posture.